l-Hospital's rule problem?

baconhawk

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Nov 12, 2012
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I have figured out that this is an indeterminate form of 0/0 but I am having a hard time taking all the derivatives.
The problem is the limit as x approaches zero of (3x-sin3x)/(3x-tan3x)
 
Hello, baconhawk!


You don't know the derivative of 3x?\displaystyle 3x\,?

You don't know the derivative of sin3x?\displaystyle \sin3x\,?

You don't know the derivative of tan3x?\displaystyle \tan3x\,?

Exactly where is your difficulty?
 
Well I know that using l'Hospital's Rule it then becomes the limit as x approaches 0 of (3-3cos3x)/(3-3sec^2(3x)) which is still an indeterminate form. I guess that my trouble is in getting to a form that does not become an indeterminate when I take the limit.
x0
 
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(3x-sin3x)/(3x-tan3x)

Let t=3x

(t-sint)/(t-tant)

(t-(t-t3/6+...))/(t-(t+t3/3+....))

(-t3/6+...))/(+t3/3+....))

Higher Terms don't matter (or differentiate these twice to prove it)

Answer = -1/2

 
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Trick Question

The multiple derivatives still give 0/0.
The Maclaurin series has non zero second derivatives.
 
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